Canada: CI Financial Files for Ethereum (ETH) ETF
On 25 February, CI GAM (CI Global Assets Management) heralded the filing of the CI Galaxy Ethereum ETF; furthermore, it received a preliminary prospectus for the same.
The First ETH ETF
As the company looks forward to the ETF launch, it will stand as the first-ever ETF investing directly on ETH. Also, it has selected Galaxy Digital Capital Management LP as the fund’s subadvisor; the ETF will be traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE).
CI Global Assets Management is a subsidiary of CI Financial, prided as one of the Canadian investment giants.
CI Financial CEO Kurt MacAlpine acknowledged how cryptos are revolutionary to the financial sector globally. Besides, he also expressed his excitement for being the first company to launch the first ETH-based ETF, mentioning it as one of the most progressive cryptos in the market.
The fund will run under the ticker ETHX, with the primary objective pointing towards acquainting investors to ETH in an institutional-level funding network.
Strong Ties with Galaxy Digital
It is not the first time that CI GAM has been in partnership with Galaxy Digital. Late last year, the two companies collaborated to launch the CI Galaxy Bitcoin Fund with CI as the manager and Galaxy Digital as the subadvisor.
Headed by Mike Novogratz, Galaxy Digital offers Asset Management, Investment Banking, Trading, and Principal Investments services. The New York-based company is well-versed in investment practices and financial services, particularly in the blockchain technology sector.
Therefore, Galaxy Digital will perform all bitcoin trades on behalf of CI Fund with that in mind. After its rollout, the fund was divided into three units dubbed Class A Units, Class C Units, and Class F Units, with each unit going for $10.
In essence, the fund aims at investing entirely in bitcoin while leveraging the Bloomberg Galaxy Bitcoin Index. Utilizing Bloomberg’s pricing index will display the performance of a single BTC traded in U.S dollars.
Past ETF Efforts in Canada
Today, institutional investors in Canada slowly recognize bitcoin as an investment tool following various ETF applications. Asset managers such as Purpose Investment Inc. rolled out their ETF on February 18th under the ticker(BTCC).
Evolve Funds Group launched their Bitcoin ETF shortly after Purpose’s ETF launch in the market. On February 12, 2021, 3iQ Corp announced their Bitcoin ETF application which is still in processing. As per 3iQ’s objectives, their ETF project hopes to offer a long-term investment solution and bring bitcoin closer to investors anticipating getting their hands on digital assets.
Asides from bitcoin, institutional investors, realize that other digital assets have a worthwhile potential now with a new ETH ETF proposal from CI Financial. At the moment, CI Financial manages assets worth more than $230 billion.
